


Those Magic Changes

by anisstaranise



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bullying, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-08-05
Packaged: 2018-04-13 02:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4504707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anisstaranise/pseuds/anisstaranise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine is ten years old and adores everything about magic.</p><p>And he cannot wait until he turns eleven- when that much-anticipated letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would arrive via owl at his door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Magic Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **Seblaine Week 2015** : _Day 4: Hogwarts_.
> 
> Took a lot of liberties with the Hogwarts 'verse. The layout of the Hogwarts Castle and its grounds were based on the Harry Potter PlayStation games.

Meeting

The soothing sounds of water lapping against the banks and over smooth, gray rocks accompany him as he lies back on the grass warmed by the summer sun. He squints up at the wavy cirrus clouds and plays a game his mother had taught him.

“ _Bytle draca_ ,” he whispers as he blows a breath towards the sky. The shapeless clouds then congregate to form a puffy, white dragon.

He smiles to himself, pleased that it had only taken him an afternoon to master such an advanced spell.

Born to an English Muggle father and a witch of Asian descent, Blaine Anderson grew up in a home filled with love and magic. He liked to think he grew up with the best of both worlds; the fascinating world of Muggle with its technology and pop culture as well as the glorious wonders of the magical world.

Blaine is ten years old and adores everything about magic.

And he cannot wait until he turns eleven- when that much-anticipated letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would arrive via owl at his door.

His thoughts of Hogwarts are interrupted when his dragon-cloud mysteriously morphs into a puffy, white stallion, its feet galloping gracefully against the blue sky.

Blaine sits up, alarmed. This isn’t his magic. Who is doing this, he wonders, panicked.

A giggle from the shrubs behind him catches his attention.

“Who’s there?” he asks, voice shaking. Blaine is free to do magic at home or by the creek, knowing that they’re his safe place. But not everyone is accepting of magic, especially their Muggle neighbours.

Slowly, a skinny boy with mousy brown hair emerges from his hiding place, smiling sheepishly at Blaine. Blaine lets out a breath, relieved to find a boy about his own age rather than... anyone else, anyone that can get him into trouble; and he can get into _a lot_ of trouble if a Muggle sees him doing magic.

A moment passes, the summer breeze swirling between them as they stare at each other, both boys carefully regarding the other.

“I liked your dragon,” the boy says rather shyly.

“Thank you,” Blaine replies as he looks up at the now-still stallion-cloud. “I like your horse. It’s really impressive.”

The boy smiles again as he tilts his head to the sky, mimicking Blaine.

“Where’d you learn how to do that?” Blaine asks, turning his face towards the boy.

Slowly, the boy fixes his attention on Blaine and Blaine catches flecks of gold glinting in the summer sun amidst the green irises. The boy has kind eyes, he thinks.

“My father,” the boy answers proudly.

“I learned it from my mom.”

“My mother’s a muggle,” the boy explains.

“My dad, too,” Blaine says rather excitedly. He’s never met another half-blood like him before. “I’m Blaine. Blaine Anderson,” he offers enthusiastically, stretching out a hand, excited at the prospect of making friends with someone just like him.

The boy smiles and grips his hand firmly. “I’m Sebastian Smythe.”

 

Letter

Blaine presses his palms against the family room windows, the floor-to-ceiling panes cool under his touch. Days passed since his eleventh birthday but he’s yet to receive his letter from Hogwarts. His hopes start to diminish with each passing day despite his parents’ constant reassurance that perhaps the Hogwarts administration office is slightly busier this year because the number of talented young witches and wizards, like himself, has increased.

He thinks his parents are right because Sebastian’s birthday was months ago and the boy hasn’t said anything about receiving his letter- there is no one else more deserving than his best friend; Sebastian is a remarkable young wizard.

Since meeting at the creek a year ago, Blaine and Sebastian had become instant best friends. He hates that he only manages to spend time with Sebastian on weekends because the other boy attends a prestigious preparatory boarding school while he attends a grammar school nearby. He can’t wait to attend the same school with his best friend, to learn all that Hogwarts has to teach them- together.

Two weeks after his birthday, on a Saturday to be precise, there is scratching against Blaine’s front door. He bolts from his seat where he is having tea with his parents in the back garden and skids on the foyer rug in his haste to get to the door.

Blaine all but yanks the door open and finds the envelope he’s been waiting for lying on the welcome mat. His heart pounds in his chest as he carefully picks up the letter, afraid it will disappear like some sort of mirage. But it sits firm between his fingers, its weight reassuring in his hands. He stares disbelievingly at the delicate calligraphy boldly spelling “ **Mr. B. Anderson**.”

His mother enters the room and squeals in delight at the sight of the letter, rushing to give Blaine a bone-crushing hug. He doesn’t mind it one bit. He’s received his letter. His dream has come true.

With hurried fingers, Blaine breaks the scarlet wax seal on the back of the envelope and pulls out the letter. The Hogwarts crest stands out on the brown parchment as his eyes devour the words:

_Dear Mr. Anderson,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Without a second thought, he kisses his mother on the cheek and tackles his father in a brief hug on his way out of the back garden, his feet carrying him past their home’s picket gate and straight to the creek.

Just as expected, he finds Sebastian there- at their place- crouching by the bank, skipping pebbles across the water.

“I got my letter,” he blurts, out of breath.

Sebastian looks up at him, his signature smirk set on his lips. “Congratulations.”

Blaine is startled by Sebastian’s nonchalance. Why isn’t he excited? Where’s his letter?

His heart beats faster than it already is. What if Sebastian didn’t get his letter?

“Sebastian?”

A moment passes before a genuine smile tugs at the other boy’s lips. Sebastian reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and pulls out an envelope identical to Blaine’s.

“Didn’t think I’d let you go without me, did you?”

 

First Year

The Great Hall buzzes with the excitement of hundreds of students arriving for the new school year. Blaine stands next to Sebastian amidst the sea of First Years, eyes transfixed on the high stool set on the raised platform at the front of the hall.

The Headmistress calls name after name of students that are to be sorted into one of the four Houses. Before long, her regal voice booms the name _Blaine Anderson_.

Blaine turns to look at Sebastian, who gives him an encouraging smile. He wills his body to put one foot ahead of the other and nervously climbs the steps to the platform.

He fidgets on the high stool and starts at the weight of the Sorting Hat when it is set on his head; he didn’t expect it to be as heavy as it is. He scans the crowd for Sebastian and immediately relaxes when his gaze fixes on familiar, kind eyes.

“Hufflepuff!” bellows the Sorting Hat.

Cheers erupt from the Hufflepuff table as Blaine makes his way over, grinning from ear to ear. The other students keenly welcome him. He hasn’t sat down for more than a minute and already he feels at home.

It takes a while before Sebastian’s name is called. The pool of unsorted First Years start to thin and Blaine finds Sebastian easily. He smiles encouragingly at his best friend as he secretly wishes that Sebastian will be sorted into Hufflepuff, too.

The Headmistress sets the Sorting Hat on Sebastian and Blaine watches it wriggle and scrunch its face, as if it was whispering to his best friend. A moment passes before the Sorting Hat bellows “Slytherin”.

Blaine feels his heart plummet to his feet.

No, he thinks, anything but Slytherin.

There are certain prejudices attached to those from the Slytherin House and Blaine has heard them all; Sytherins have a certain disregard for rules and more often than not, they’re bullies.

Sebastian nods at him, smiling, as his best friend walks past him on the way to the Slytherin table. He doesn’t understand how Sebastian can be happy about being sorted into Slytherin but his disappointments are soon buried by the excitement of starting his classes the next day when the Hufflepuff Prefects hand out their class schedules.

 

Third Year

The scratching of his quill on the parchment is the only sound that fills the deserted corridor. Blaine is writing the remaining three inches of his Charms essay when cheers erupt at the end of the gallery. He looks up to see Sebastian, decked in his Quidditch gear, laughing heartily with a group of Slytherins.

Today is the Quidditch tryouts for each House team and from the looks of it, Sebastian has made it on the Slytherin team.

He isn’t surprised. He’s seen Sebastian on the broom, seen him play the game; Sebastian’s a natural and he is a magnificent Chaser- fast, agile and instinctive.

Blaine is about to shout his congratulations but catches his words before they leave his lips.

To say anything now doesn’t feel right. They haven’t talked in a while.

They’re not friends anymore; they haven’t been since returning from Christmas break of their First Year.

They had remained friends in the beginning but over time, Blaine felt himself change; he made new friends, he found his passion for Herbology, he revelled in the freedom of being able to be the wizard he was and the magic of it all.

They had slowly drifted apart.

Later, Blaine would blame this on the changes that adolescents went through; their transition from children to young adults causing them to grow into their own at different paces and more often than not, growing up took them down different paths.

In truth, he was too ashamed to admit that the divide between them was partly caused by something as silly as Sebastian being a Slytherin.

So Blaine lets the words die on his tongue as Sebastian disappears around the corner.

 

Fifth Year

Blaine’s robes flutter in the late evening breeze as he briskly heads to the library after researching the uses of Fire Seeds for his upcoming Herbology O.W.Ls. His dress shoes tap loudly on the cobblestone path when he veers into a corridor adjacent to the Gargoyle quadrangle - a shortcut he learned that will take him straight to the library wing.

Just as he is about to turn a corner and step into the castle, a cruel laughter mingled with terrified screams pierces the air. Blaine peers past the quad’s pillars to find the source of the sounds. He isn’t surprised when he finds a group of Fifth Year Slytherins, led by the infamous Hunter Clarington, tormenting a Ravenclaw student- a Second Year from the looks of it.

“That’ll teach him to never so much as breathe near me again,” Hunter snarls, a wicked grin curling on his lips as he looks up at the Ravenclaw hoisted in the air by his ankle.

The _Levicorpus_ jinx.

Blaine clenches his fists- he hates Slytherins with a burning passion. He hadn’t met a Slytherin that didn’t prove any and all of the negative labels attached to them were true- they were obnoxious, conniving bullies.

There are three other Slytherins with Hunter. Blaine’s clearly outnumbered but the anger at seeing a fellow student being bullied stirs his courage to intervene. It is the right thing to do, he tells himself, but before he can step into the quad, another figure approaches the bullies from the opposite side.

“You’ve had your fun, Clarington. Put him down,” the voice commands.

Blaine tenses.

“The fun’s just starting,” Hunter says, his wicked grin growing wider.

“ _Liberacorpus_ ,” Sebastian counters, waving his wand at the dangling Ravenclaw.

Blaine watches as Sebastian gently lowers the boy to ground. The Ravenclaw sprints away from the Slytherins the moment he’s on his feet again, never once looking back.

His mind reels at what had just transpired; Sebastian stood up for someone else- _against_ a fellow Slytherin. To his knowledge, such a thing is unheard of because, stereotypically, Slytherins are pack-minded.

Something much like pride thrums in his chest. Trust Sebastian Smythe to break the stereotypes that Blaine (and most of Hogwarts) has come to associate with Slytherins.

“You’re a disgrace to the Slytherin House, Smythe,” Hunter spits.

“We have very different understandings of the word _disgrace_ then,” Sebastian coolly replies, a taunting smirk set on his lips. He then turns on his heel and walks away.

As Blaine watches Sebastian leave, he realizes that he’s missed the other boy; the memories of their time at the creek preciously imbedded in his heart- he can’t forget Sebastian even if he tried.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he sees Hunter raise his wand and aims it at Sebastian’s back, like the coward he is.

“Sebastian!” he yells in warning the moment Hunter yells “ _Stupefy_ ”.

With lightning quick reflexes, Sebastian spins around and shields himself with “ _Protego”_.

Sebastian glares at the other Slytherins but Hunter is unfazed, that wicked grin still etched on his face, his blue eyes challenging Sebastian to do _something_.

Sebastian scoffs as he turns to leave again but not before throwing a curse effortlessly over his shoulder. Hunter freezes and tumbles to the ground like a fallen tree, paralyzed by the Full Body Binding curse, that annoying grin finally wiped off his face.

Blaine meets Sebastian’s gaze momentarily as the other boy walks toward the castle’s entrance. Sebastian nods in his direction, a loud “thank you” echoing the gesture before he disappears through the doors.

 

Diagon Alley

The din of the Leaky Cauldron is fast becoming one of Blaine’s favourite sounds as he sips on his Butterbeer, the fizzy drink leaving a tingly sensation on his tongue.

Sebastian sits across from him, animatedly recounting his epic Quidditch tryout during their Third Year.

They had reconnected at the start of summer after bumping into each other in Flourish and Blotts. Sebastian had teased Blaine when he saw the stack of books in other boy’s arms: “Only Blaine Anderson would define _letting off steam_ after a torturous O.W.Ls as _spending the summer doing_ more _reading_.”

Since then, having lunch at the Leaky Cauldron together had become a common occurrence; they would talk about everything, catching each other up on all that had happened in the past four years.

Sebastian had grown from the sheepish, skinny boy to a confident young man who radiated with charisma. He often rolled his eyes when Sebastian would shamelessly flirt with the young barkeep to sneak a shot of Firewhisky in his Butterbeer. He rolled his eyes even more when Sebastian succeeded.

Despite his friend’s insufferable and merciless flirting, Blaine revels in the many sides of Sebastian Smythe he’s witnessed since rekindling their friendship- from the suave flirt to the empathetic young man, from the Quidditch player to the Potions enthusiast.

Many a night, he silently thanks Merlin for a second chance at getting to know the boy.

Some days they find themselves by the creek, lying in the grass and gazing at the clouds like they’re ten again.

Blaine blows a breath to the sky and a giant cumulus cloud breaks into smaller puffs, morphing into a school of fish. They sway in the wind, an illusion of swimming against the azure sky. He sees Sebastian blow up to the sky out of the corner of his eye. A neighbouring cumulus cloud transforms into a shark, its puffy-white jaws opening and devouring Blaine’s school of fish.

Blaine tries to glare at his friend but smiles instead when Sebastian chuckles at him.

“Sneaky,” he pouts.

“Part of the Slytherin charm,” Sebastian states nonchalantly. “Isn’t that what people say? That all Slytherins are sneaky?”

Blaine swallows and rises on his elbows. There is a simmering guilt under his skin, something he’s felt since that day in the quad. He’s generalized all Slytherins to be the same conniving bullies in the past and unfairly so. He should’ve given Sebastian the benefit of the doubt, should’ve tried harder to stay friends. But he’s wise enough to know that his prejudices against the students of the Slytherin House stem from what he had heard from his peers and what they had believed; eleven year olds are impressionable and peer pressure is a powerful thing.

He knows better now.

Blaine catches green eyes staring at him. Sebastian has kind eyes, he thinks.

“It’s okay,” Sebastian says as if he can read Blaine’s thoughts of past shame. “I knew what I was getting myself into when I chose Slytherin.”

Blaine jolts at the confession, confused. “Chose?”

Sebastian delves in detail concerning his choice to be sorted into Slytherin. His father is his hero, a great man- a great Slytherin, someone he aspired to be. He explained he wanted to be just like his father, hence he told the Sorting Hat he wanted to be in Slytherin.

“And besides,” Sebastian continues, “-I love Potions. I’m great at it. And Slytherin seemed the best place to hone my skills.”

Blaine listens intently as a crisp breeze swirls around them, its presence a signal that summer is winding down and autumn is fast approaching.

In that moment, Blaine feels himself fall for Sebastian. He doesn’t know what _love_ feels like exactly but he’s sure it’s much like what he feels for Sebastian right then.

He kisses Sebastian the day before the Hogwarts Express is set to depart, the other boy matching the rhythm of his lips in fervour.

It’s a goodbye kiss-

Because Sebastian had applied for a student exchange program with Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and would be spending his Sixth Year there.

Suddenly, Blaine hates himself for all the times he’s wasted being prejudiced against Slytherins, against Sebastian; all those times he could have spent with the other boy, perhaps even fall in love sooner.

It’s too little too late now.

They’re leaving the next day, setting off down different paths.

They don’t promise each other anything.

 

Seventh Year

The acrid fumes of the herbal antiseptic assaults his nose as Blaine walks out of the Hospital Wings’ dispensary and heads in the direction of the patient lying on one of the beds.

His passion for Herbology made it an easy decision for him to choose _Healer_ for his N.E.W.Ts practical and he’s learned a lot under the tutelage of Madam Sage, Hogwarts’ matron.

Blaine sets the medicine bowl down rather aggressively on the side table, the clanging startling the injured Slytherin Chaser resting in bed. He can’t put a finger on why he’s so angry- no, not angry- _irritated_ at the boy.

It’s been a year since he’s seen Sebastian Smythe. And he never once expected to see him in the Hospital Wing the very first week of Quidditch season.

Sebastian had taken a nasty Bludger earlier, one purposely sent his way by a disgruntled Gryffindor Beater after losing the game. He had fallen off his broom but luckily only suffered a dislocated shoulder and minor cuts on his head.

Blaine scrunches a cotton ball in the antiseptic solution with gloved hands and dap it just a little bit too hard on the cuts.

“Ow!” Sebastian yelps. “Merlin’s Beard, Blaine!”

“You never wrote,” Blaine mutters through gritted teeth, the words leaving his lips before his brain can register them, his tongue airing out the source of his frustration before his mind can admit to it.

Sebastian stares at him, wide-eyed, his frustrations mirroring Blaine’s and laced with something akin to an apology.

“Neither did you,” Sebastian bites back.

It’s true they never promised each other anything, never promised to keep in touch or to wait for the other. He knows the distance between the highlands of Scotland and the mountain range of the Pyrenees is too much a gap to fill with letters and promises.

But he’s lying if he says he hadn’t hope for... something.

Heavy silence drapes over them.

Moments pass with Blaine cleaning Sebastian’s wounds, gently now, and patches him up quietly, both of them lost in thought.

“For what it’s worth-,” Sebastian says, breaking the silence, “-I never stopped thinking about you.”

Wordlessly, Blaine leans down to close the gap between them but stops just before his lips touch Sebastian’s. He doesn’t doubt that he wants this, that he wants Sebastian but he’s giving Sebastian the chance to pull away if by some chance a year in Beauxbatons has dimmed the other boy’s feelings for him.

Sebastian surges forward to capture Blaine’s lips; his kiss is eager and hungry, like he’s been starved of the taste of Blaine- just as Blaine is starved of the taste of him.

It isn’t until Madam Sage clears her throat behind them do they break apart, both smiling from ear to ear.

 

St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

The rubber soles of his joggers squeak against the tiled floor as Blaine walks down the East Wing corridor, winding through hallways and corners effortlessly.

After four years, he’s finally completed his housemanship.

He’s a Healer now and working at St. Mungo’s Hospital has been a dream.

It’s that much sweeter when his boyfriend is a Healer, too, and works in the department of Potions and Plant Poisoning, a floor below the department he works in.

Just as Blaine retrieves a patient’s chart from the nurse’s station, one of the hospital’s messenger owls- a handsome, brown Eagle owl- lands on his shoulder and drops a piece of parchment.

“ _Meet me at the rooftop garden. Please_ ,” it reads.

Blaine smiles down at the note.

He steps into the garden not long after receiving the note and finds Sebastian perched on one of the benches, cradling a glass jar in his lap. The other man perks up at the sight of him and his stomach flutters excitedly, and rather proudly, that even after all these years, Sebastian still looks at him like _that_.

Sebastian wordlessly holds out the jar to Blaine. The jar is empty but despite his confusion, he takes it carefully in his hands.

His boyfriend opens the lid and points his wand to the sky. Gracefully, a mist dwindles down from the sky and into the jar where it forms mini, puffy clouds within.

Blaine stares at the beauty of it and marvels at the swells and curls of the meteorological mass in his hands. Sebastian smiles that charming smile of his and blows into the jar before closing the lid.

Languidly, the tiny clouds move to form two words that catch him by surprise, stuttering his heart and hitching his breath:

 _Marry me_.

Blaine looks up from the words and into Sebastian’s eyes; they’re soft and gleaming but nervous all the same.

Meeting by the creek at ten years old seemed serendipitous but it felt a lot like fate to Blaine. They drifted apart for a while but they found each other again, and that felt a lot like fate, too.

They’re an inevitability, he thinks.

Blaine gently pecks a kiss on Sebastian’s nose before lifting the lid. He lets the tiny clouds hover between them.

“ _Bytle draca_ ,” he whispers and a tiny, puffy white dragon materializes before them.

He then swipes a finger through the tiny, white mass and the dragon curls into one resounding word:

 _Yes_.

 

\--END

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.  
> Comments welcomed.


End file.
